


Pie in the Sky

by himitsutsubasa



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Croatoan/Endverse (Supernatural), Dean Winchester's Birthday, Episode: s05e04 The End, Happy Ending, M/M, Post-Canon, Post-Canon Fix-It, Post-Episode: s15e20 Carry On
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-17 00:28:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28965366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/himitsutsubasa/pseuds/himitsutsubasa
Summary: His (temporary) death in 2014 is a distant memory. It's 2021 and it's his birthday.He just wished Cas was there.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Comments: 3
Kudos: 17





	Pie in the Sky

It's strange, Dean thinks. He remembers dying. He remembers his world ending and then suddenly he's back. They're all back and they're rebuilding. He remembers his life ending in 2014, but now it's 2021 and they're looking at the results of building a world that they get to thrive in. They're looking at a new world, a new dawn, a new day and he is so happy to be alive.

It's the strangest, because it's his birthday. It's been years since he properly celebrated. After they were brought back, they didn't have the resources. The croats were people again and that meant many mouths to feed and none of the social structure to make it happen. Then Sam came back and he had to deal with that. He can't even remember when. There was a time early in the apocalypse when Cas remembered and would bring him little presents, just stuff he found on supply runs. But an actual party? Maybe it was back when he was going to be dragged to hell after making the deal to save Sam's soul. 

Sam came by in the morning with a slice of cake from god knows where, because they're still struggling with the sugar supply chain even if they have the internet back up. It's more insane that his brother remembered, brought him a cake. He thinks that maybe they're getting somewhere, that everything they've broken can be fixed. 

Almost everything. Dean hasn't seen Cas since they were brought back and he doesn't know what to make of that. He always thought he was Cas' number one priority, but his therapist says that it's about how he should have made Cas his and that's why it still hurts. Regrets. He has many.

"Happy Birthday, Dean."

"Cas!" Dean fumbles his mug of hot water and almost spills it on the cake. It's not the best cake, but it doesn't deserve to be melted. "Where have you been?"

Cas is in his old get-up, or an updated version. It's not a trench coat anymore, a tan bomber jacket and Dean can see the collar of the blue and white button-up peeking out the top from where the jacket is almost fully zipped up. There's a little iridescent black logo of angel wings on Cas' chest right over his heart and Dean wants to touch it, wants to touch Cas.

"I've been... busy." Cas says.

"Too busy to stop by?" He wants to snap back, but Cas is here and this is the best birthday present he could have asked for. This is, he thinks, the thing he has missed the most. It's something he doesn't deserve and he is not going to ruin it.

"I wanted to bring you this," Cas continues and he pulls a pie of of nothing and if Dean had any questions about Cas being fully re-juiced they flit away. 100% angel again. Fully restored. 

"Pie?" He takes it from Cas and the smell almost brings him to his knees. It's sweet and warm and he's suddenly three feet tall and helping his mother mix the caramelized brown sugar into the apple slices in a rare moment of peace when his parents weren't fighting and John was coming home soon so they should get the pie in the oven and finish up making dinner. 

Distantly, he hears Cas speaking. "Your mother sent it. Well, she sent the recipe. I made it."

"You've been in heaven?" Dean asks and Cas nods. That explains everything and nothing. 

"That's why you've been gone?" He wants to ask. "That's why you haven't come back yet? Are you coming back? Do you hate me?"

"We've been rebuilding, Dean. God needs a lot of help. I wish I could have been back sooner, but I thought..." Cas trails off and Dean wants to know. He wants to know what Cas thought. He wants to know. 

He wants to know if the angel in front of him was still the angel in his last memory before he came back. In his memory, he was lying on the floor and Cas was screaming his name. His name, not the name of the other Dean, because Cas had screamed it with such soul piercing agony that if Dean wasn't already dead it would have killed him. Cas loved him. Cas had loved him and offered Dean his heart to have and to keep and Dean couldn't figure it out until it was too late that it was a present. You keep those.

Cas blinks, startled, and that calls up all sorts of unrestrained memories of when Cas first fell and Dean made him fall over and over again. Cas used to tell him he was still falling, he would never stop falling for Dean. Dean wonders if that's still true.

He wonders if Cas has heard his prayers since then, has heard what he hasn't been able to say. Regrets. He has many.

"It's a long story," Cas offers. It's soft in a way that Dean hasn't seen in a long time and Dean yearns for it. He longs for it in the depths of his soul. He wants to do better this time. He wants to tuck Cas' heart away in his chest where it can rattle around in the space between his lungs. He wants to give Cas his own again because he did before, but this time he knows what it means and it's not a blind leap of faith, it's jumping in with both eyes open.

"I have all day."

It comes out of his mouth unbidden, but when Cas sits down at his rickety little table, their rickety little table, if Cas is willing, Dean thinks that might be forgiveness he sees in Cas' face.

**Author's Note:**

> Originally going to be part of a 5+1, but I felt this one stood on its own.


End file.
